Various circuits, modules or sub-circuits in an electrical circuit (e.g., an integrated circuit) may have varying power supply requirements and/or may operate optimally when supplied with power having particular characteristics. Various circuits, modules or sub-circuits in an electrical circuit may also, for example, be relatively tolerant of power supply characteristics while other various circuits, modules or sub-circuits may be relatively sensitive to power supply characteristics.
Power supply characteristics may vary in a variety of ways. For example, power supply characteristics may vary in voltage (or current) level, noise level, variability (e.g., tolerance range, amount of ripple, variance, drift, etc.), load response characteristics, etc. Various power supply characteristics may be associated with respective power supply quality levels. For example, a power supply with a tightly regulated voltage with low ripple, low noise and a fast load response may be considered a relatively high quality power supply. Conversely for example, a power supply with a loosely regulated voltage with large ripple, a substantial noise component and slow load response may be considered a relatively low quality power supply.
Providing electrical power at a relatively high quality may require the consumption of more energy (e.g., by power supply circuitry) than providing electrical power at a relatively low quality level. In various system designs, power supply buses may be designed to provide power to a set of chips or modules in accordance with the needs of a subset of chips or modules that have the strictest power supply requirements. Such designs may unnecessarily waste energy resources.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.